Shou Xiaoli:
Thank you, Mr. Mao. Now, we will open the floor for media questions. Please tell us the name of your news organization before asking questions.
CCTV:
Since the beginning of this year, the economy has been under pressure and the downward pressure has increased. Based on the statistics you have just released, how would you evaluate China's economic development in the first half of the year? Thank you.
Mao Shengyong:
Thank you for your question. In the first half of this year, faced with a complicated situation at home and abroad, the economic growth maintained general stability and registered good progress. The main macroeconomic indicators are operating in a reasonable range and the economic structure is being optimized. The general characteristics are as follows:
First, the three main industrial sectors continued to develop. Agricultural production is relatively good, and there has been a bumper harvest of summer grain. The total output of summer grain this year increased by 2.1%, matching the record production achieved in 2017. Industrial growth was basically stable. In the first half of the year, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 6%. In June, the gain was 6.3%, 1.3 percentage points faster than in May. The service industry continued to maintain rapid growth. In the first half of the year, the added value of the service industry increased by 7%. The service industry production index in June was 0.1 percentage points higher than that of May.
Second, the "Troika" is running smoothly. Consumption growth has generally accelerated. In terms of total retail sales of consumer goods, the six-month increase was 8.4%, showing a slightly faster rate compared to the first quarter. In particular, the total retail sales of consumer goods in June increased by 9.8%, 1.2 percentage points faster than the previous month. Investment growth is stabilizing. In the first half of the year, fixed assets investment increased by 5.8%, 0.2 percentage points higher than that in January-May. The import and export situation was better than expected. The total import and export volume of goods increased by 3.9% in the first half of the year, slightly faster than in the first quarter. June saw a further improvement over the May performance.
Mao Shengyong:
Third, the three major economic indicators are fared well. Employment was generally stable with 7.37 million new jobs created in urban areas in the first half of the year, meeting 67% of the 2019 target. The survey-based urban unemployment rate was held at around 5% in June; Market prices were also generally stable as the CPI grew by 2.2% year-on-year in the first half of the year, and the core CPI (excluding food and energy) rose 1.8%. That means consumer prices have only seen moderate growth; the PPI saw slight growth of around 0.3% year-on-year in the first half of the year.
At the same time, incomes have grown in tandem with economic development. Per capita disposable income rose 6.5%, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than the overall economic growth rate. One thing worth noting is that the disposable income of rural residents had grown faster than that of urban residents, and this is helping further bridge the urban-rural income gap.
Fourth, the industrial structure, the demand structure and the foreign trade structure all continued to be optimized. In regard to the industrial structure, agriculture consolidated its primary sector status, while the product mix continues to be further optimized. In the first half of the year, there was an increase in the planting area for soybeans and other cash crops.
Transformation of the secondary sector also continued to gather pace. For example, the value added component of high-tech manufacturing rose 9%, or three percentage points faster than that of industrial enterprises above designated size, and its proportion of the total value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size rose 0.8 percentage points year-on-year.
The tertiary sector continues to increase its contribution to economic growth. Proportionally, the value added of tertiary sector contributed an additional 0.5 percentage points to total GDP compared to last year. Thus, we continue to see a strong momentum in the development of a modern service industry.
In terms of the demand structure, consumption is consolidating its primary role in promoting economic growth. In the first half-year, an increase of consumption contributed 60.1% of GDP growth; the investment structure is also being optimized with expenditure on social development, high-tech industries and the manufacturing transformation being maintained at over 10% of the total investment mix.
The foreign trade structure has also improved. The proportion of general trade continues to rise year-on-year.
So, these are how major macroeconomic indicators performed in the first half of this year. Thank you.
